


Being Evil Has a Place

by zorac



Category: Lucifer (TV), The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Characters Writing Fanfiction, F/F, International Fanworks Day 2018, Story within a Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 03:31:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13695963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zorac/pseuds/zorac
Summary: Eleanor thought about that for a moment. “To be fair, I ship Maze with pretty much everyone, including myself.”“What do you mean by ‘ship’?” asked Tahani.Even in the Good Place, binge-watching TV shows leads to writing fanfic… Major spoilers for season one ofThe Good Place, minor spoilers forLucifer.





	Being Evil Has a Place

**Author's Note:**

> Last year, International Fanworks Day was what got me to finally start posting the fics I'd been writing (largely because I had a mostly-finished once that met the prompt), so I definitely wanted to have a go at this year's challenge. Mostly, I decided to pick a couple of new fandoms and have some fun with them…

“…and so, you see, we’re _actually_ in the _Bad_ Place,” concluded Eleanor.

Tahani stared at her open-mouthed for a moment, trying not to be too distracted by the fact that her righteous indignation made Eleanor look even more gorgeous than usual. “Well, I suppose that does actually make a certain amount of sense.” She got a thoughtful look. “Yes, that would explain a lot of… curious things about the neighborhood. Although it would also mean that _we_ aren’t actually soulmates.”

“Whoah, hold your horses there. Just because Michael has being lying to us about this being the Good Place doesn’t mean… and I’ve just realized that he’s a literal demon, so he probably _has_ been lying about everything, just because he can. Anyway, even if we aren’t soulmates it doesn’t mean we don’t have a connection.”

“You don’t want to move back to your own little house, do you?”

“The clown paintings creep me out and having to climb up to the bed drives me crazy. Besides, what do you think will happen if Michael finds out that we’re onto him?”

“Bad… things?” suggested Tahani.

“Exactly,” said Eleanor, emphasizing her point by punching a fist into her other hand. “We have to keep up appearances – but, we don’t have to worry about tying to be good any more. Seeing as you’re, like, ridiculously hot, and I haven’t got laid in I don’t know how long, I think we should skip straight from fake-soulmates to forkbuddies. Forkbud… Shirt. Frenemies with benefits? What do you say?”

“Well,” mused Tahani, “I haven’t slept with a woman since I spent that weekend with Ellen.”

“DeGeneres?” Eleanor asked, assuming the worst.

“Of course not! That would be weird; she’s like a sister to me. No, Ellen _Page_. It was just before she came out – I’m not saying she did that because of me, of course, but…”

Eleanor shut her up with a kiss; there was only a moment’s hesitation before it was eagerly returned. She quickly decided that she liked Tahani better when she was using her mouth for something other than talking.

A little while later, she found _even better_ things for Tahani to do with her mouth.

* * *

“Wow!” gasped Eleanor, a couple of hours later.

“Indeed,” Tahani responded huskily.

“I mean, seriously, if I’d known the sex was going to be _that_ forking good, I’d have jumped you weeks ago.”

Tahani couldn’t help preening a little at that. “Yes, it _was_ rather spectacular.”

“So… What do you want to do now?” Eleanor asked. It was almost the longest she’d ever spent with Tahani without feeling the need to slap her, and she wanted to go for the record. Plus, the naked body pressed up against her felt _really_ good.

Tahani didn’t want to move either. “We could… Netflix and chill?”

Eleanor propped herself up on one elbow to look at her. “You are in _sai_ tiable, girlfriend! But, much as I’d love to, I think I’m all chilled out right now.”

Tahani flushed. “I was merely suggesting that we could watch something. Together.”

“Right. Of course. I knew that.” She thought for a moment. “We can’t actually get Netflix here, though. _That_ should have tipped me off that we’re in the Bad Place.” She got a gleam in her eye. “Speaking of which, that gives me an idea for what we should watch. Janet!”

“Hello,” said the assistant from beside the bed. “How can I help? Would you like a selection of sex toys?”

“No, that’s not why I… actually, yes. That sounds like an awesome idea.” Eleanor snuck a glance at Tahani, who was blushing again and had pulled the discarded sheet over herself. “For later, honey,” she drawled. When she turned back, several dildos, harnesses, and other interesting items had appeared on the bedside cabinet – the ball gag looked particularly tempting – along with a large bottle of lube. “What I actually wanted was a TV, a Blu-Ray player, and a complete box set of _Lucifer_.”

“Of course,” said Janet, “here you go.” A large flat screen appeared on the wall opposite the bed, with the player and discs below it. The remote control was suddenly in Eleanor’s hand.

“Thanks, Janet. Oh, and if you wouldn’t mind popping the first disc in before you go…”

“So, what’s this program about?” asked Tahani while Janet struggled with the shrink-wrap.

“The devil has decided that he’s bored with running Hell – I’m surprised that hasn’t happened to Michael yet – anyway, he takes an extended vacation to Los Angeles, where he runs a nightclub and gets himself involved in some buddy cop drama.”

“Oh yes, I remember now. Neil told me about it when they were making the pilot; it’s based on one of his graphic novels.”

“Seriously, are you physically incapable of going five minutes without name-dropping?” asked Eleanor.

“I can’t help it if a lot of the people I know just co-incidentally happen to be famous,” Tahani said indignantly, as Janet finally managed to extract the disc and slide it into the player.

“Thanks, Janet,” said Eleanor, while resisting the urge to slap Tahani.

“You’re welcome,” the assistant told her, then vanished. Eleanor checked the clock on the wall – she’d missed beating her record by five lousy minutes. Sighing inwardly, she pressed play.

* * *

Ten days, and three and a half seasons later, the credits rolled on another episode. “Okay, after that one I’m kinda shipping Maze with Ella.” Eleanor thought about that for a moment. “To be fair, I ship Maze with pretty much everyone, including myself.”

“What do you mean by ‘ship’?” asked Tahani.

“Ship? As in, think they should be in a relation _ship_. Or, y’know, just really need to fork each other. Next you’re going to tell me you’ve never heard of fanfic.”

“Yes, I have!” said Tahani excitedly, like she’d won some prize. “Some of my writer friends used to do that before they got real publishing deals. I’ve never actually read any, though.”

Eleanor waited a few seconds for the inevitable name-drop, but none came. _Huh_. “Well, that’s easily fixed,” she said, getting up to retrieve her Surface Book. “Let’s have a look and see what we’ve got access too…” She sat back down on the bed and tapped away at her laptop for a few seconds. “Shirt,” she muttered. “The neighborhood archive has a copy of FanFiction.net, but not AO3. How did I ever believe this was the _real_ good place?”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind. New plan. Let’s _write_ some fanfic instead, get those creative juices flowing.”

“I don’t know. I rather went off writing after Kamilah produced a critically acclaimed, bestselling novel in a couple of months.”

“Well, she’s not here to show you up now. But how about I write, and you be my beta reader?”

“I suppose I could do that.”

“So, who should I write about?”

“Since you seem to be fixated on Mazikeen, why don’t you start with her? Oh, and if you ‘ship’ her with Chloe then they can be all adorable and domestic looking after Trixie together!”

“Oookay, I can work with that,” said Eleanor. Not quite what she had in mind, but she could work her way up to the steamy sex scenes. “How do I get them together?”

“You could… have Mazikeen save Trixie somehow, so Chloe sees her as protective of her daughter,” Tahani suggested.

Eleanor nodded. “That sounds like a pretty good idea. Let’s give this a try…”

> Chloe lay back on the hospital bed, waiting for the nurse to come back and finish patching her up. Lucifer had taken off the moment he knew she was okay, of course; he probably a hot date, or a wild party at Lux – something more important than _her_. She pulled out her phone, and cursed when she saw the time. No way was she going to make the school run. Sighing, she dialed a number.
> 
> “ _Demon Bounty Hunters, who can I drag in for you?_ ”
> 
> “Hi, Maze, it’s Chloe.”
> 
> “ _Hey, roomie._ ”
> 
> “I’m sorry to ask this, but could you pick Trixie up from school today? Lucifer and I got jumped by a bunch of thugs, and I’m not sure when I’m going to get away from the hospital.”
> 
> “ _Can’t Lucifer do it?_ ”
> 
> “No; he already left, like he always does.”
> 
> Chloe could almost _hear_ Maze’s eye-roll. “ _Okay fine, I’ll go and collect the Munchkin._ ” After just a moment’s hesitation, she added, “ _are you going to be alright?_ ”
> 
> “Yeah, I’ll be fine; it’s just a few cuts and bruises. Thanks, Maze; I appreciate it.” Chloe was relieved. She’d expected more resistance – and she hadn’t expected that hint of concern. She was still trying to wrap her mind around it when the nurse returned.
> 
> The last dressing was barely in place when her phone rang: Lucifer. She was tempted not to answer it, but just in case this was one of those times when his abrupt departure was slightly less selfish… “ _Detective. Have you collected Trixie from school yet?_ ”
> 
> “No, I had to ask Maze to do it because I’m still at the hospital. Why?”
> 
> “ _I found the leader of those men who attacked us earlier. After a little persuasion, he’s been very talkative._ ”
> 
> That cheered Chloe, they’d been after him for three weeks now. Then, remembering the first thing Lucifer had said, she had a bad feeling. “And…”
> 
> “ _After he failed to get you, he sent men after your offspring._ ” She’d hung up and dialed Maze almost before he got the last word out. There was no reply.
> 
> “I need to go. Now.” She ignored the nurse’s protests and hurried out the door.

Eleanor turned the laptop so Tahani could see what she’d written. “What do you think?”

She quickly read it through. “I like it so far, but…” She suggested a few edits and nit-picked some grammatical errors, which Eleanor grudgingly corrected before making some tweaks of her own.

“Better?”

“Yes. Now, carry on. I want to find out what happens next!”

> Chloe drove as fast as she dared to Trixie’s school, but by the time she’d reached it, the students were all gone. She began tracing the route she presumed Maze would have taken home. Her apprehension grew as she heard sirens, and then saw blue flashing lights up ahead.
> 
> She pulled up just a few seconds after the squad cars. Maze’s SUV was sitting diagonally across an intersection with a black van rammed into the side of it. She climbed out of her car and ran towards the scene, flashing her badge at the uniformed cops. There were several bodies scattered around the crashed cars, thankfully all of them adult sized.
> 
> Rounding the rear of the SUV, she almost tripped over a man with a wickedly curved knife sticking out of his thigh, and another protruding from his neck; a gun was still clutched in one of his hands. Beyond that, leaning against the car door, was a bruised and bloodied Maze, cradling a young girl. Chloe’s heart kept into her throat.
> 
> “Mommy!” cried Trixie as she looked up. Reluctantly, Maze released her as Chloe knelt beside them; Trixie crawled into her waiting arms.
> 
> “Thank-you,” said Chloe to Maze, her voice heavy with emotion. Then, “are you going to be okay?”
> 
> “I’m _fine_ ,” Maze replied, waving a hand vaguely, “thanks to Trixie.”
> 
> “Wait, what?” Chloe asked, baffled.
> 
> “That last guy,” she nodded towards the doubly-stabbed corpse, “got the drop on me. Trixie… distracted him long enough for me to finish him off.”
> 
> “I stuck him with a knife,” Trixie told her mom proudly, pointing at the one sticking out of the man’s thigh.
> 
> Chloe opened her mouth to berate both of them, then closed it again. It really wasn’t the time to complain about Maze training her daughter with deadly weapons. Instead, she forced a smile, and reached out a hand to touch one of Maze’s. “I’m so glad you’re both okay.”

“Oh, poor Trixie!” said Tahani, visibly upset, when she finished reading. “She shouldn’t have had to go through that.”

“It’s just a story, Tahani,” Eleanor told her in a soothing voice.

“I know, I’m being silly. I’m supposed to be helping you write this. I do have a few small critiques…”

> Half an hour later, they were back at the hospital Chloe was in earlier, with the same nurse checking over Trixie and Maze. Her earlier complaints about Chloe’s rapid departure were forgotten as she confirmed Trixie was unharmed and then moved on to cleaning and dressing Maze’s injuries. Trixie clung to her protector’s hand throughout, and Chloe was surprised that Maze didn’t shake her off. 
> 
> A couple of hours after that, the three of them were back at home – sat on the couch, eating pizza, and watching a movie. Trixie was in the middle, and had pulled the adults close enough that they were both in constant contact with her. When they were done with food, she lay down across their laps until the film was over.
> 
> “Time for bed now,” Chloe told her gently.
> 
> “Okay. Can Maze read me a bed-time story?” Chloe was taken aback by that – Trixie rarely asked for a story these days, and _never_ from anyone other than her. Okay, that wasn’t strictly true – she had asked if Lucifer could once, but there was no way Chloe was trusting _him_ not to make up something entirely inappropriate. She wasn’t sure she trusted Maze to either, but under the circumstances…
> 
> “You’ll have to ask her.” Maze looked a little like a deer in the headlights, but when Trixie turned her puppy-dog eyes on her, she quickly broke.
> 
> “Okay, fine, kid. Why don’t you go and pick something out for me?” Trixie grinned, and raced off to her bedroom
> 
> “You’ll do great,” Chloe reassured Maze, “this is hardly the scariest thing that’s happened to you today.” The other woman’s expression suggested otherwise. She held out her hand to help Maze up, but accidentally pulled too hard. Maze grabbed Chloe to steady herself, leaving their bodies pressed together and faces scant inches apart. They both froze.
> 
> Maze was the first to move. “You totally owe me for this,” she remarked, before sauntering off to Trixie’s room. _What the hell was that?_ Chloe thought, her heart racing. She pulled herself together, then went over to lounge in the doorway and watch story time. Maze was reading softly enough that she couldn’t make out the words, but Chloe could hear that she was putting on different voices, and see her acting out parts of the story. She smiled; _who would have thought she would be so good with a kid?_

“See, now that’s the cute domesticity I was hoping for!” said Tahani.

“So… this bit is all good, then?”

“Well, I didn’t say _that_. I do have a few teeny little suggestions you might want to consider.”

“Of course you do…” muttered Eleanor.

> When the story was done, Maze put the book to one side and tucked Trixie in. “Good-night,” the girl mumbled in a sleepy voice.
> 
> “Good-night, Monkey,” Maze whispered, before gently kissing Trixie’s forehead and getting up. “Don’t say a word,” she told Chloe as she turned off the light and followed her out of the room.
> 
> “If you insist; I _was_ going to offer you a drink, though.”
> 
> Maze grinned, and sprawled on the couch. “I’ll take two.” Chloe went into the kitchen, and returned a few moments later with a bottle of bourbon and a couple of glasses. She poured two fingers into each, and handed one to Maze. Pushing her feet aside, she sat at the other end of the couch – only to have Maze stretch back out again, leaving her feet in Chloe’s lap.
> 
> “I want to thank you again, for everything. I know you didn’t want to collect Trixie from school in the first place, but you still did it. And then the way you saved her was incredible.”
> 
> “What can I say? After living with her for a year, I’ve grown fond of the kid. I wasn’t about to let those pieces of shirt lay a finger on her.” There was a fiercely protective look in her eyes that drew Chloe in.
> 
> “And as much as I hated it, I should thank you for teaching her how to use a knife. Turns out you were right about that.”
> 
> “Knife-play is a skill _every_ girl should learn.” Maze said decisively. “And like I said, she saved me from having my brains splattered all over the pavement.”
> 
> “Still, I don’t know how to thank you.”
> 
> Maze downed the rest of her drink. “You can start by pouring me some more of this, and then later… I have some other ideas.” She used a sultry voice which left no doubt in Chloe’s mind what she was suggesting; a blush crept onto her cheeks.
> 
> “I haven’t done that since college,” she protested weakly. Nevertheless, her eyed scanned Maze’s body. _Maybe it’s time to change that_ , she thought.
> 
> Maze grinned at her. “Don’t worry, it’s like riding a bicycle. Besides, knife-play isn’t the only thing I’m good at teaching…”

Eleanor scowled as she quickly read over the last section and tried to fix a typo, but whenever she deleted the extraneous ‘r’ one of the other letters vanished too, and when she retyped _that_ , the ‘r’ reappeared too. “Son of a bench! I can’t even _type_ swear words in this shirthole.” Disgusted, she passed the laptop over.

Tahani fanned herself as she reached the end. “I take it that this is about to lead into them ending up in bed together.”

“Got it in one. Now, I find that sex scenes can be kinda awkward to write, so I was hoping that you might be willing to help me out with it.”

“Oh, well, I’m not sure about that.”

“I mean, not the actual writing, just… it makes it easier if I can work out the scene in my head first. Even better would be to run through it physically; like a kind of rehearsal.”

“Oh…” said Tahani, catching on. “And do you think we might need to ‘rehearse’ the scene several times?”

“That’s a _distinct_ possibility,” agreed Eleanor.

Tahani set the laptop aside, then rolled back to lie atop her. “Oh, the things I do for art…”


End file.
